Overview: Originally conceived as a two-part TV pilot, The Scarface Mob is a gritty and thrilling dramatization of Eliot Ness’s account of his hunt for ruthless gangster Al Capone in Chicago during the prohibition. The film would go on to spawn The Untouchables, one of the most widely celebrated TV crime dramas of all time.

Chicago, 1929. Al Capone’s ruthless gang of thugs are dealing in bootleg booze in blatant defiance of Prohibition laws, and paying off corrupt cops and crooked politicians to stay out of their way. That is, until Federal Investigator Eliot Ness is tasked with bringing down Capone’s criminal empire.

To aid him in this task, he assembles a crack team of men he is sure will be incorruptible, to identify and sabotage the Capone gang’s distilleries. But when Capone, Scarface himself, gets wind that his operation is under threat, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Tautly directed by film noir veteran Phil Karlson (The Phenix City Story) and featuring memorable performances by Robert Stack (Written on the Wind) as the righteous Eliot Ness and Neville Brand (The Tin Star) as the unhinged Al Capone, The Scarface Mob is a tense crime drama waiting to be rediscovered.

Blu-ray Verdict: OK, so as I think we all know by now, this was quite the TV event when it first came on, as it, for all intents and purposes, functioned as the pilot for the subsequent TV series.

Featuring the brilliant Robert Stack as Eliot Ness, what played out though was an extended episode that didn’t actually fit the TV time slot, as it was much longer; but ultimately, in my book, oh-so much better formatted.

It also came with many really epic scenes of tank-like trucks with snowplows on them smashing their way through the gates of the warehouses where the bad guys brewed illegal beer. Then the feds would jump out of the truck and spray everybody with Tommy Gun fire.

Of course, TV shows like this in the 1950’s made America more than eager to do the same thing in third world countries! Korea, Guatemala, Vietnam, the mid-East, well, you name it.

But I digress and moving on, Neville Brand as Al Capone was not in the TV series, because he’d already been vanquished by Ness at the end of this TV movie. He was distinguished for his shtick in this film, of laughing and then turning angry and surly in a split second, as his henchmen mobsters sat around a banquet table trying to keep up with his mood swings, alternately laughing and glowering along with him.

Bob Hope later did a satire of this scene on one of his TV specials re: the whole laughing and glowering thing. It was pretty funny. I was a dorky pre-teen in the local Methodist Youth Fellowship when the most memorable scene of the film came on: Ness had a sweet girlfriend in the movie, who pure as she was, didn’t seem to wear a bra under her sweaters, all of which seemed to unbutton down the front.

In the key scene, several hulking Italian-American criminals bash down the door to her single woman’s apartment, security chain and all, and then rip open her sweater and admire the merchandise! Pretty hot stuff for 1950’s family-hour viewing, let me tell ya!

In the next scene, she and Ness are getting married and Ness organizes a parade of Capone’s confiscated beer trucks, to get back at him for feeling up his girlfriend, craven non-Anglo animal that he is. Now that’s American justice!

Pretty good for the same company that brought us I LOVE LUCY for so many years, don’t you think? Anyway, for the longest of time, this was only ever available on VHS tape, but you had to be sure that it was the original film with Neville Brand, and not just episodes of the later TV show.

But now, the wondrous Arrow Films have brought out The Scarface Mob on stellar Blu-ray and, amongst other formidable extras, it includes Gang Busters, a brand new video essay on the film and the career of director Phil Karlson by film critic David Cairns.

The series also has the benefit of some great music played during some of the episodes, which always adds great substance. Oh, and to me, I always found it ironic that the whole run revolves around the prohibition of alcohol, while most of the characters smoke like chimneys!

In closing, the TV show also dispensed with the Hollywood Italian accents. I can’t say whether they’d be offensive to the average Italian-American viewer or not, but I do know that the Chicago Outfit, or mob, didn’t like it. Indeed, they went as far as to put a contract on Desi Arnaz, whose studio, Desilu, produced the series. Needless to say, it was never filled!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed dual mono 2.0 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Gang Busters, a brand new video essay on the film and the career of director Phil Karlson by film critic David Cairns
Philip Kemp on The Scarface Mob, a brand new video essay on the career of Eliot Ness and his depictions on film, including The Scarface Mob, by film critic Philip Kemp
Theatrical trailer
Gallery of original posters, lobby cards and publicity photos provided by The Scarface Mob and The Untouchables archivist Kelly Lynch
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio
Six postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and liner notes on The Untouchables by Dan Lynch and Kelly Lynch

www.arrowfilms.com